
Class ^fLii^5 

CDPVRIGHT DEPOBtIV 



MY CREED 



AND OTHER POEMS 



HOWARD ARNOLD WALTER 



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RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 
BOSTON 



Copyright, 19M, by Howard Arnold Walter 
All Rights Reserved 






The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 



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©C!.A330^72 



TO 

MY SISTER 

Pure in heart and true in deed — 
From your life I learned my creed. 



"And long it was not after when I was confirmed 
in this opinion that he who would not be frustrate 
of his hope to write well hereafter in laudable 
things, ought himself to be a true poem." 

John Milton. 



PREFACE 

The majority of the poems included in this vol- 
ume have not hitherto appeared in print. A few 
were published in ''New Songs," an anthology from 
the press of Chapman and Hall, London, in 1907. 
Some others have appeared in various periodicals to 
whose editors thanks are due for courteous permis- 
sion to republish at this time. The author would 
also here express to his mother and his friend, Dr. 
Henry van Dyke, his deep gratitude for their gen- 
erous services in reading the proof and for the many 
valuable suggestions they have given him. 

Now as these scattered songs of faith and love and 
friendship are sent upon their way the author prays 
his friends, for whom they are intended, to separate 
the chaff from the wheat and retain as their own 
what they shall find to be worth the keeping. 

H. A. W. 

New Britain, Conn., 

September 25, 191 2. 



CONTENTS 

My Creed ii 

My Friendship I2 

I had a Friend i3 

My Prayer 14 

The Perfect Friend 15 

Answered Prayer 16 

The Preacher's Prayer 17 

Lines — Dedicating a Guest-Book 18 

The Guarding Angel 19 

Love's Ultimate 20 

Optimism 21 

The Master 22 

Good-night — A Lullaby 23 

The Awakening 24 

Age Counsels Youth 25 

The Pride that Goeth 26 

Lullaby 27 

Afterglow 28 

Song at Parting 29 

A Song of Two 30 

Under the Roses 31 

The Discovery 32 

How Love Came 33 

All My World 34 

Somehow 35 

When Sorrow Beckons at Thy Door 36 

Heaven's Requital 37 

7 



CONTENTS 

Song 38 

Love's Welcome 39 

A Fantasie 40 

Metaphor 41 

Critic — Cupid 42 

The Coquette's Mirror 43 

Love's Camaraderie 44 

The Cost 45 

The King's Lament 46 

Along the Way 47 

Love 48 

So They Went Back and Walked no More 

with Him 50 

The Epistles of Christ 51 

The Two Ways 52 

In After Years 53 

To You — In Darkness 54 

God's Great Gift 55 

To An Old Friend 56 

Quatrains 57 

Dawn on Monadnock 59 

Inverness 60 

Fujiyama Rex 61 

Twilight on the Penobscott 62 

Lake Dunmore 63 

Evening in Yokohoma Harbor 64 

At Last 65 

Poetry and Love 66 

Foreshadowings 67 

The Brahman to Jesus 70 

8 



CONTENTS 

Music and the Master 71 

Faith's Dream of Doubt 72 

At Close of Day I Knelt 73 

Epicurus or Christ 74 

Sovereignty 75 

In Loving Hope 76 

Elihu Burritt 77 

Glasgow's Farewell to George Adam Smith.. 78 

Mirage 79 

To Christina — Today 80 

To E. P. P. and J. H. T 81 

To T. A. Daly 82 

My Valentine 83 

In Memoriam : Verling Winchel Helm 84 

East and West 86 

A Birthday Greeting 87 

To M. B. D 88 

A Contrast 89 

To Princeton — 1905 90 

Mother Ocean 91 

The Reflection 92 

On Ship-Board 93 

Soul, Rest Not in Thy Sorrow 94 

The Day's Life 95 

The Manifest God 96 

The Way, the Truth and the Life 97 

Asked at Sunset 98 

The Easter Light 99 

Easter Hymn lOO 

A Thanksgiving Thought 102 

9 



CONTENTS 

A Christmas Thought 103 

An Easter Thought 104 

At a Comic Opera 105 

Morm'ng and Evening 106 

The King and the Pilgrim: An Allegory. ... 107 

Prayer — at the Cross 108 

For Hostess 109 

For Leader i lO 

To My Mother in 

L'Envoi 112 



10 



MY CREED 

I would be true, for there are those who trust me; 

I would be pure, for there are those who care; 
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer; 

I would be brave, for there is much to dare; 

I would be friend of all — the foe — the friendless; 

I would be giving and forget the gift; 
I would be humble, for I know my weakness; 

I would look up — and laugh — and love — and lift. 



II 



MY FRIENDSHIP 

With all truth's frankness I would be so tender, 
Since highest honour is the end of scorn, 

That hearts I seek to help may sense the fragrance, 
Before they feel the thorn. 

With all love's fondness I would be so loyal. 
Since purest passion is the end of fear, 

That friends I win may learn from lips that loyc 
them 
Hard truths they have to hear. 



12 



I HAD A FRIEND 

/ had a friend — that fateful line 

In characters of gold doth shine 

Across my life, and men must know 
That all of good my years can show 

Is shadowed in that wondrous sign. 

And if one say, "That work of thine 

Is better wrought than aught of mine," 
For answer I will whisper low, 
'7 had a friend." 

And if, in that last Day*s decline. 
There rings at eve the Voice Divine, 
"Well done," and if I then shall go 
Where, crystal-clear, that stream doth flow, 
This cause, my soul, in Heaven assign, 
I had a Friend, 



13 



MY PRAYER 

(^^ Beginning from Jerusalem*^ — ) 

Lord, for myself I pray. 

Loyal and blithe I'd be; 
Giving my strength to men who need, 

My heart to Thee. 

Lord, for my home I pray. 

Spirit of peace, brood o'er; 
Open to God, the windows be, 

To man, the door! 

Lord, for my church I pray. 

Heavenly Dove descend; 
Grant that Thy Light, her lamp may be; 

Thy Truth, her end. 

Lord, for my friend I pray. 

Send him some joy unsought; 
Bring his ennobling dreams to pass, 

The rest, to naught. 

Lord, for my lan'd I pray. 

Plenty and peace bestow; 
Make it the friend of all who love, 

Of hate, the foe. 

Lord, for the world I pray. 

Teach it to serve and sing; 
Grant to each hand to find its task, 

Each heart, its King. 



14 



THE PERFECT FRIEND 

Clasp of a hand that heartens, 
Eyes that are brave and true, 

Lips that reveal their secrets 
Only to you : 

Faith not a doubt can darken, 
Love to its utmost end, — 

Of such is your spirit's comrade, 
The perfect friend. 



15 



ANSWERED PRAYER 

The way was dark — I prayed for light 
To guide my soul through deeps of night; 
But God in wisdom knew me best, 
He sent the dark and bade me rest. 

Beset by storms that would not cease, 
In agony I prayed for peace. 
God heard my prayer, but sent me more, 
The storm waxed wilder than before. 

At last I cried, with humble breast, 
"Lord, grant no prayer that is not best. 
Henceforth Thy will not mine be done" — 
Beholdj He granted every one. 



i6 



THE PREACHER'S PRAYER 

When to the pews I turn my gaze, 
Within the wistful eyes I read 

A hunger lurking 'neath the praise; 
For hearts at peace their faces plead. 

When, prayer-inclined, I gaze on high. 
The Saviour's eyes, with yearning dim — 

The pitying love that stooped to die — 
Unveil the perfect peace in Him. 

Lord Christ, my trembling lips inspire. 
So with Thy love my words impress, 

That I may link each heart's desire 
With Thy vast eager power to bless. 



T7 



LINES— DEDICATING A GUEST-BOOK 

Friend, how the treasured golden hours have hasted 
Wherein you dreamed and lived with me, and 
shared 

My board ; I know that for the food you tasted 
You little cared. 

But I would give you more, in some hereafter 
Should you look back, adown the darkening years, 

Unto this hour, this fellowship, this laughter. 
Through many tears, 

'Twould be that then life's load should lift or 
lighten, 

And to its God once more your soul would say. 
In every heart and home lovers lamp shall brighten 

Where ivends my way. 



iR 



THE GUARDING ANGEL 

When fair and fickle words that men have spoken 

Disclose their false intent; 
When trusted ties of olden friends are broken, 

And faith seems quite forespent; 

I think of her whose love, untold, unfailing, 
Through years too bruised and brief. 

Above my skeptic mind and heart prevailing, 
Dispelled mine unbelief. 

'Tis ever so: before the last dread portal. 

Where dearest faiths depart. 
Guarding the entrance standeth one immortal 

Loyal and loving heart. 



X9 



LOVE'S ULTIMATE 

Love me so much that if the world's harsh masters 
Drive me to anguish and to wild unrest, 

So that I may not see nor hear nor touch you, 
Each moment I shall feel your love confessed. 

Hold me so close, by love's wide arms encircled, 
That If for long my lips must pine unpressed, 

Through utter languish of the beaten body, 
I shall be crushed In spirit to your breast. 

Trust me so far that If In sudden folly 
I stoop to passions by our love unblessed, 

You will reclaim me, wretched, weak and broken, 
And win me to the triumph of my best. 



20 



OPTIMISM 

Where do you go with a face so bright? 
/ seek the Bourne of the Fadeless Light, 

And what if the end be distant far? 
Still, the sunset peace and evening star. 

Yet ever at eve the sunset dies! 
Still memory lives and hope defies. 

And what if the end be death at last? 

Not death, but life, with the shadow past. 

Who are you, Spirit, with heart so true? 

/ was once your dream, and I might be — you. 



21 



THE MASTER 

In the worldly throng, alone, 
'Mid contending tongues, unknown. 
Seeking truth — and not his own; 

Coming when they do not call. 
Guiding where they fear no fall, 
Spurning when they give their all ; 

Graver when their hearts are gay. 
Brighter when the clouds grow gray, 
Calmer when the bugles play; 



Loving where no love is found, 
Giving where no gifts abound. 
Helping where all hope is drowned; 

Telling to no friend his woes, 
Asking of no priest repose, 
Smiling 'neath the scorn of foes; 

He must conquer, soon or late, 
He is lord of death and fate. 
He will lead to Heaven's gate. 



22 



GOOD-NIGHT— A LULLABY 

Down droops the darkness; fast fades the light. 
Come, little brother, and tell me "good-night." 

Shadows grope blindly 'mid hollow and height. 
See, little brother, they bid you ''good-night." 

Stars out of Loneland sail into sight. 

Hark, little brother, they whisper, "good-night." 

Soft steal the moon-beams, wistful and white. 
Read, little brother, their message, "good-night." 

Slumber-boat's leaving ; far is its flight. 

Haste, little brother, it whistles "good-night." 

Little lips parting — eyes closing tight. 
Go, little brother — good-night, good-night. 



23 



THE AWAKENING 

Last night I dreamed I saw you stand, 
As was your wont, and smile and say, 
"Love, 'twas in jest I spake that day, 
I bid you come and take my hand." 

Then in the rapture of those days 
Whose golden suns I deemed had set, 
One pledged the other to forget 
The grief along our severed ways. 

When through the spent dream crept to view 
The chamber where I dwelt apart. 
The barren truth ached through my heart — 
I loved you better than I knew. 

Could we have seen the years at stake. 
The bitter fruitage of our pride, 
Such dreams at dawn had never died. 
And to such pain I could not wake. 



24 



AGE COUNSELS YOUTH 
(For M. C. H.) 

You will find, as you go life's journey, 
Wherever your feet shall tend. 

That Love is the one companion 
Who will fare to the journey's end. 

Love sets the soul to singing 
Whenever the way grows hard, 

And, out on the far horizon. 
Love is the last reward. 



25 



THE PRIDE THAT GOETH 

Thou who did'st bind the laurel on my brow, 

After my race was run, 
Come forth with me to share a victor's joy 

Till setting sun. 

Thou who did'st pray that I might never win, 

Lest pride be then my guest, 
Absent this day, come thou to ease my fall, 

Who lov'st me best. 



26 



LULLABY 

Baby sleep, the night is nearing, 
Softest twilight tints, appearing. 
Dim the garish sunset splendor, 
Bathe the earth in shadows slender. 
Blinking star-eyes none can number 
Watch above thy peaceful slumber, 
Guard thy breast from every danger; 
Stars that watched above a manger. 
Long and long ago. 

Baby sleep, the shades are falling, 
Voices of the night are calling. 
From the depths of dreamy distance. 
Echoes of a far existence. 
Now the moon, all wan and hoary, 
Floods the earth with argent glory, 
Down his silver path of pardon ; 
Moon that shone upon a garden, 
Long and long ago. 

Baby sleep, till evanescent 
Dawn receives the silver crescent 
In its bosom,tawny, glistening. 
When the birds, alert and listening, 
Carol forth the fragrant morning. 
Mist-hung earth and sky adorning, 
Gilded with the sun's reflection 
Morn that viewed a resurrection. 
Long and long ago. 



27 



AFTERGLOW 

{In a College Room) 

Since your dainty presence wafted 

Through this dull and dusty place 
Fragrance as from fine old gardens, 

And your face, 
Radiant as with summer sunshine, 

Scintillated warmth and grace, 
All is changed, and where you lingered. 

By that picture, on this seat, 
Hallowed spots shall be forever, 

Marguerite. 



28 



SONG AT PARTING 

Go not too far, love, for the world is hard, 

Thou yearn'st to greet, 
And there be many stones, and none to guard 

The tender feet 
That have not wandered, and that are not scarred. 

And have not known defeat. 

Go not too far, love, for the path Is steep, 

And thou art frail. 
And yonder lies the ocean, broad and deep, 

Thou can'st not sail. 
If many leagues thy journey thou dost keep 

Thy fortitude must fail. 

Go not too far, love, storms will soon descend, 

And, tempest-tried. 
Thou can'st not, wheresoe'er thy footsteps bend. 

For long abide, 
Till thou hast found me, at thy journey's end — 

Thy longing satisfied. 



29 



A SONG OF TWO 

{To M. B. W.) 

He Sings: 

You have crossed the dismal desert, 

Lonely heart, and found me here; 
I am come to be your comrade. 

Win your trust and woo your cheer. 
I am sent to love and lead you, 

Will you let me, dear? 

She Sings: 

Yes, I know my heart was lonely 

On that pathway bleak and bare; 
Yet I dreamed of Love's own country, 

Sun-swept skies and perfumes rare. 
If I chose to let you lead me, 

Could you lead me there? 

He Sings : 

Nay, across the world love wanders. 

And no garden home he knows; 
Love a wizard is, and ever 

Springs a garden where he goes. 
Love can make the dismal desert 

Blossom like the rose. 

She Sings: 

Come then, let us dare the desert. 

Tread the lonely paths I know; 
Everywhere to shed the sunshine. 

Fertile seeds of Love to sow. 
Anywhere your love shall lead me, 

Sweetheart, I will go. 



30 



UNDER THE ROSES 

Do you remember it still to-day, 
Under the roses that arched the way, 
What I whispered low and what you replied, 
And how you colored and softly sighed? 
That memory still in our hearts reposes — 
Known only to you and me and the roses. 

And do you remember that scented night, 
When we walked alone in the pale moonlight? 
When the stars looked down with their laughing 

eyes 
And you gave me then — ah, sweet surprise! 
Be still, the secret no lip discloses — 
Known only to you and me and the roses. 

And do you recall? But I rest me there: 
Though the memories past be ever so fair, 
The golden hours of to-day are best. 
When you come, dear heart, at my love's behest. 
And we walk each night as the wan day closes, 
Down by the path that is arched with roses. 



31 



THE DISCOVERY 

Out on the level highway, 
That follows east and west, 

Are weary throngs that hasten. 
With feet that find no rest, 

Unto a goal they dream of, 
Upon an endless quest. 

I scan, from woodland cloisters. 
Their strained and wistful eyes 

That seek the rainbow treasure, — 
And think, how they were wise 

Apart with me to wander 

In paths where pleasure lies : 

Till, in my listless watches, 
With rapt and sudden thrill 

I see a face whose sadness 
Strikes to my heart a chill; 

And eyes that mutely beckon. 
And lure me to their will. 

Lo, I, upon the highway. 
Seek for a promised land : 

Another fares beside me; 
And now I understand — 

Better than lonely joyance, 
To sorrow hand in hand. 



32 



HOW LOVE CAME 

Unto you love came like the eagle 
That swoops on its helpless prey, 

And harries and hurts and rends it, 
And bears it at last away. 

But to me, as I watched and wondered, 
Like a white little dove it came, 

And nestled close in my bosom, 

And "Peace" was its whispered name. 



33 



ALL MY WORLD 

Truth Is the soul of my dearie, 
Beauty, her beating heart, 

And her voice is Melody, 
And her face is Art. 

Love is the life of my dearie, 
Faith in her mind is furled, 

And her hands are Charity — 
She is all my world. 



34 



SOMEHOW 
{To M.) 

Girl of the past, close-curtained, 
If those fleet hours were all, 

Time's tracks I'd backward travel, 
Somehow to hold you thrall. 

Girl of the cryptic present, 

I may not fathom far 
Its secret strange, I'd only 

Somehow be where you arc. 

Girl of the mystic future. 

With dazzling dreams inwrought, 
To what white peaks they lure you, 

Somehow I shall be brought. 



35 



WHEN SORROW BECKONS AT THY 
DOOR 

Shall I rejoice that thou hast never known 

Life's thorny, bitter way; 
That woodland glades with roses overblown 

Are where thy glad feet stray? 
Ay, — though alone 

I bear my cross this day. 

Shall I recall thee from thy roses, sweet, 

To feel the thorns with me; 
When deathless sorrow hath not lured thy feet 

Nor taught thine eyes to see? 
Nay, — 'twere not meet 

My grief should sadden thee. 

But O, when sorrow beckons at thy door, 

And thou dost rise and follow far; 
As I rejoin thee on the distant shore 

Where all earth's grieved ones are, 
If thou implore 

I'll show my livid scar. 



36 



HEAVEN'S REQUITAL 

'Mid the warring ways of life, 
In the fierceness of the strife: 
All the pain and all the passion 
Raging in man's soul, to fashion 
Something half divine. 

Weary hearted, burden pressed, 
Loud man cried to heaven for rest. 
Heaven made answer, "Light the burden 
If thou share it; for thy guerdon 
Love — not rest — be thine!" 



37 



SONG 

My love Is of the morning 
When dawn flits up the sky, 

When birds their bliss are singing, 
Rapture-high. 

My love is of the noon-tide 
When tramp of toiling feet 

Intones love's fervent music. 
Olden-sweet. 

My love is of the evening 
When birds fly home to nest, 

When a face of twilight beauty 
Seeks my breast. 



38 



LOVE'S WELCOME 

I am standing on the threshold of the home of Love 

divine. 
I, a king in royal ermine, bearing gifts of corn and 

wine. 
"Open w^ide the sacred portals, fling the gates of 

gold aside; 
I am come to do thee honor, here awhile shall I 

abide." 
Lo, I hear in sweetest cadence soft a voice that stills 

my heart, 
"Not to you is love responsive, not for you her 

gates shall part. 
Naught she cares for earthly splendor, scorns a cloak 

of gorgeous hue, 
Never Love was won by riches, Love demands the 

heart be true." 

I am standing on the threshold of the home of Love 

divine. 
Banished now the regal splendor, gone the pomp 

that once was mine. 
Long I've traveled, long I've waited, and my heart 

is faint with fears. 
Wearied is my soul with watching, blinded are my 

eyes with tears. 
Straight the gates are drawn asunder, Love in glory 

greets me now; 
Hushed and thrilled I swiftly enter, humbly at her 

feet I bow. 
On my head her hands are resting, clear and sweet 

her accents ring, 
"To my home I bid you welcome, in my heart I 

crown you king." 



39 



A FANTASIE 

Night has fallen ; I am roaming 
In the garden of my dreams; 

In the star-embosomed gloaming 
Where the silver crescent gleams. 

Wild or wistful night-winds, sighing, 
Waft my soul to slumbers deep. 

Distant twilight voices, dying, 
Echo through the vales of sleep. 

Far from out the flaming portal, 
Sown with stars, there rings a cry, 

"Thou art blest, for thine immortal 
Love, unseen, unknown, am I !" 

Silence reigns. The silver crescent 
Pales beneath the purpling day. 

O'er the hills the wind's incessant 
Music sobs itself away. 

With the morn, I still the wonder 
Of the voice that rang so late. 

Goddess from the stars up yonder, 
I have heard and I will wait. 



40 



METAPHOR 

"Love is life," he gently whispered, 

"Murd'ress, darling, could you be? 
Love's a river, rushing seaward, 

Breast its waves with me." 
"Love is life? and if I take it, 

Then will I a murd'ress be. 
Love a river ? I must shun it 

Or I drown," said she. 

"Love is blind, and you must guide me 
Down the paths that droop and wind." 

"If I do," she smiled demurely, 
"Blind will lead the blind." 



41 



CRITIC— CUPID 

You bid me judge these pictures you have wrought, 

With eye impartial, as a critic ought. 

Nay, with Love's bandage fixed across his eyes 

How can one weigh and ponder, critic-wise? 

Think you that one who loves the artist's heart 

Can judge with cool indifference her art? 

Her face his fancy lures from every line. 

And renders dear and hallowed each design. 

********** 

Sweetheart, I kiss the hand that gave them birth. 
Assured of this — / only know their worth. 



42 



THE COQUETTE'S MIRROR 

Through h'fe before her fateful glass 
She watched the seasons pale and pass; 
She saw her flushed and beauteous face 
To sour unsoftened age give place; 
For last commission — at her death 
The glass distilled her closing breath, 
Ere back to earth her dust was blown. 
Her soul no grateful glass had known. 
And now, in others* happier lives. 
No fair reflection still survives. 



43 



LOVERS CAMARADERIE 

I would not be enshrined so high and far, 

At some dim altar where you kneel and pray; 

I would be close beside you where you are, 
On life's hard way. 

To win your worship I would never ask, 
But for your comradeship of every day: 

I would be near you in your dullest task, 
And in your play. 

To be your queen I could not dream were bliss, 
I would not rule but I would fain obey; 

All that I crave in earth or Heaven is this — 
To serve alway. 



44 



THE COST 

The bitter battle of long months was over, 

The prize was won. 
Then I eagerly turned — and lo! in the eyes of my 
lover 

Two tears shone. 

My cheeks were glowing with the pride of capture, 

Of farther fame. 
And I looked unto her for answering pride, for the 
rapture, 

But none came. 

That night I asked her of her woeful bearing. 

Her words were few: 
"You have won to a height far up from, that valley 
of sharing 

We both knew." 

And then my heart beheld its poor position. 

Love inly knows 
That it lives far below those shivering heights where 
ambition 

Alone goes. 



45 



THE KING'S LAMENT 

I am master of mighty armies, 

And lord of a vast domain; 
But there lies at the heart of my kingdom 

A stronghold I strike in vain. 

The strength of its walls defies me, 
When thither my guns I train, 

I must brook its forts undemolished, 
Its mad commander unslain. 

I am lord of a hundred cities, 

But one I may never gain; 
My-Soul is the name of that stronghold, 

My-Will is its king insane. 



46 



ALONG THE WAY 

Where tends this hard and toil-worn way? 
// is the straight and narrow road 
That leads to God from mans abode. 

A cross my burden all the way? 

Ay, *tis a sign that thou would'st feel 
Beyond thine own another s weal. 

Stands there no inn beside the way? 

Nay, would'st thou wish to dream awhile. 
And dear-bought hours with play beguile? 

And if I faint along the way? 

Then shalt thou know, as ne'er before 
His sorrow who did suffer more. 

Goes there no guide to point the way? 
Ay, One — the first to share thy woes. 
Thou canst not think how near He goes. 

How shall I know where ends the way? 
Then one whose face thou wilt recall 
Shall meet with thee and tell thee all. 



47 



LOVE 
{For E. P. B.) 

I do not know what gift Life flings more lavish 
Unto her children from the skies above; 

Or what more wondrous joy, man's soul, may ravish. 
Than that of love. 

Each weary back must bend beneath its burden, 
Each heart grow heavy with its weight of woe: 

But, ah, — than Love, that there be rarer guerdon 
I do not know. 

Ay, see them come, with wan and wistful faces 
Down the proud pathway where earth's millions 
move; 
Yet for their strife great gods would yield their 
places — 
The goal is love. 

Love! — that alone doth make earth's joy immortal. 
Doth raise to rapture hearts of steel or stone. 

A hope more thrilling than to win Love's portal 
I have not known. 

To win Love's portal ; hear, with bliss supernal, 
The matchless music of her voice, — ah, yes. 

Bidding me share her home, her hopes eternal, 
Her happiness. 

Sure there be other gifts and gains men capture. 

But oh how vain, how vanishing, their joy! 

Than Love I could not tell of other rapture 

Without alloy. 
********* 



48 



Now at Life's silver sunrise, pure and holy, 

Love's flame is fixed and burns within your breast ; 

As bright 'twill burn when crimson'd sun creeps 
slowly 
Down the still west. 

From sun to sun, all lesser joys transcending, 
Life's little loves and sweets that ill suffice. 

Your woven ways shall thread, through time unend- 
ing, 
Love's Paradise. 



49 



so THEY WENT BACK AND WALKED 
NO MORE WITH HIM 

Then since you cannot let me lead you upward 
To the far heights where love is sure and true; 

Since fainting you stand suppliant by the road-side, 
I will go back with you. 

For I have learned I cannot live without you, 
In yon dark vale or straining toward the height ; 

Then since you cannot let me lead you upward, 
I must turn back to-night. 

I shall forget our dreams of that fair journey. 
Those wondrous dreams we shall not find again. 

For I have learned I cannot live without you, 
And with you I remain. 

E'en though the sacrifice of Heaven is bitter, 
Remembrance of the heights will fade at last; 

I shall forget our dreams of that fair journey. 
Come, let us face the past! 

Since fainting you stand suppliant by the road-side, 
And bid me turn and bide with you below; 

E'en though the sacrifice of Heaven is bitter, 
I love you — and I go. 



50 



THE EPISTLES OF CHRIST 
(// Cor. 3:3) 

The Lord hath used those lips of men, 
To spread the Truth's immortal light, 

Who pray the Spirit's mystic pen 
Upon their lives the truth to write. 

Could written parchment conquer all, 
St. Paul's Epistles had sufficed ; 

But we must be ourselves, like Paul, 
Epistles of the living Christ. 



51 



THE TWO WAYS 

Some rush with shouts the world to win, 
With whirlwind righteousness begin 
To stir the dust of settled sin 
And sweep love's fairer empire in. 

While some, with quiet word and way. 
In wounded souls the grief allay, 
The shades of sin dispel for aye, 
And bring the dawn of love's own day. 



53 



IN AFTER YEARS 

Under the weeping willows 

Love, you and I, 
When our love was burgeoning, 

Once did sigh. 
Bathed in the bright June sunshine, 

Pearl-blue the sky, 
Did some portent warn us then, 

Clouds were nigh? 

Under the weeping willows 

Love, let us go, 
Now our hearts have suffered all 

Here below. 
Bathed in the bright June sunshine 

Love, we shall know 
Flashes of the joy that thrilled. 

Long ago. 



53 



TO YOU— IN DARKNESS 

I mark no more what stars may rise, 
To gild my skies, to glad my eyes. 
Since in that midnight where you are, — 
So dark, so far — there shines no star. 

Of little worth the friends I've won 
'Neath yonder sun, where faileth none; 
Down that dark world you've found I'd fare, 
Dear heart, and there your cross I'd share. 



54 



GOD'S GREAT GIFT 

The path of life is steep at best, 
And long the road that leads to rest, 
And distant far the paling west 
Where ends the weary quest. 

The load of toil is hard and high. 
Each eve in mournful mood put by, 
Each dawn resumed with wistful sigh. 
By hearts that yearn to die. 

But while they mourn their cross of care. 
One comes and seeks the load to share, 
With shoulders young and firm and fair, 
That many a weight can bear. 

The path of life is joy unguessed. 
When two trip forth at love's behest, 
And hail the dawns with heightening zest, 
By God's great gift possessed. 



55 



TO AN OLD FRIEND 

Friend of the past — when in the stilly night-time 
I think of our old friendship, and of you: 

And hear, adown night's corridors your whisper, 
Bespeaking trust, my eyes o'erbrim anew. 

Along man's way of life wait many comrades, 
And one fond love doth call, beyond, above, 

And man, allured by all their stirring voices, 
Evades the friendship rarer far than love. 

For if she call 'tis aye in accents lowly, 
And if she beckon, 'tis at even hour: 

Only the ear of faith will catch her footfall, 
Only the heart of truth will own her power. 

My garden plot of life lay dry and fallow, 

And only worthless weeds were springing there; 

When all was flooded with your faith and friend- 
ship. 
And lo! — my garden bloomed with flowers fair. 

Your coming was as pilgrim to his Mecca, 
Stage after stage, door after door, you passed, 

Nor found you any guard athwart the portal, 
When to the inmost shrine you won at last. 

Friend — of the past, the present and the future — 
Across the silence of the years that be. 

Some messages from soul to soul must vibrate, 
Our lives are linked through all eternity. 



S6 



QUATRAINS 

The Antechamber 

I enter bold, with pulse athrob, 
The antechamber, life; — cross o'er. 
Slowly, to yon dark inner door. 
And falter ere I turn the knob. 

Windows 

To go a journey, and to find a friend, 
Love holds for life no fairer gift below: — 
A window outward on the world we know. 
And inward to a world that hath no end. 

Chatterton 

The stream of time was choked with ships, 
That stately moved, and slow; 
And when one strove to pass the rest 
She sank ; God willed it so. 

The Inner Light 

I asked His love to point my way 
From dark to light, from night to day. 
He answered, "This thy lamp must be, 
My child, the love that shines from thee!* 



57 



Night 

{John 13:30) 

"I could not love you, dear." It was her word. 
The room grew dark around me as I heard. 
It was the hour of noon — the sun burned bright. 
Like Judas I crept forth, ^'and it was night'* 

The Glimpse 

After the glimpse into your brave heart given, 
Could you refuse me what I found so fair? 
'Twere as though God should ope the door of 

Heaven, 
Then guard the portal lest one enter there. 

Love Triumphant 

{In a Copy of "Love Triumphant** by F. L. 
Knowles) 

For we know that the Love Triumphant 
Is the love that is sure and wise; 
And the years are the slow unfoldings 
Of its infinite sweet surprise. 

G. B. N. AND L. S. N. 

(In a Copy of ''St. Paul** by F. W. H. Myers) 

You too, O friends (to you for lands outgoing), 
For whom He died, in whom He lives again, 

Go forth, like Paul, to daily death — for sowing 
Seeds of His life in souls of dying men. 



58 



Paradise 

Love's Paradise God doth entrust 
Unto each soul to-day; 
Then Satan sends his serpent, Lust, 
To steal Love's home away. 



DAWN ON MONADNOCK 

A mountain height; 
Across the night. 
The veil of dawn. 
By pale stars drawn ; 
The world adream, 
The heavens agleam; 
On such a morn 
The soul's reborn. 



59 



INVERNESS 

Hail! radiant mistress of the enchanted Firth, 
Whose wand of Empire weaves its mystic spell; 
Thrice hail, enchantress of our hearts as well! 

Proud Highland breasts be those that vaunt their 
birth 

Within the confines of thy virile earth. 

Blest eyes be they whom countless morns impel 
To view thy vistas; blest the tongues that tell 

Thy wealth of wonders and thy beauty's worth. 

I sing at morn thy fragrant isles that grace 
The swirling waters of the wandering Ness; 
I sing at eve thy westering sun's caress 

That gilds the gloom of Wyvis' storm-girt face. 
Blithe Inverness, queen of the Highlands brave, 
I came a pilgrim, I depart thy slave. 



60 



FUJIYAMA REX 

About thy breast the ageless winds make moan, — 
Dread, time-unconquered king, of quenchless pow- 



er 



Earth's midget monarchs serve their little hour, 
And sleep. Through all, before all, thou wast 

known, 
Thou did'st exist, yea thou did'st reign alone. 

Ere man was fashioned, worship was thy dower, — 
Dark forest denizens did quail and cower 
Before the fury of thy fateful throne. 
Peaceful and patient long, thy white pelisse 
Hath borne the blasts of generations gaunt. 
Hooding dim eyes that view the vista'd years. 
Woe, woe to them that give thy wrath release! 
Then, in black skies, thy lurid flag will flaunt, 
And trail a path of terror and of tears. 



6i 



TWILIGHT ON THE PENOBSCOTT 

It is the hour of sunset. From on high 

Down the proud west the splendor steals away. 
Scarlet to silver fades, and gold to gray, 

As crimson flames into pale ashes die. 

Warily now the young moon climbs the sky, 
Testing its Midas-touch. Anon in play 
Darting behind some cloud it shoots its ray 

Through slender rifts, out on the world to spy. 

One after one, from the deep void, each star 

Stabs through the heavens with its lance of light, 
And joins the glittering pageantry of night. 

From out the flaming cohorts, faint and far. 
Into the vast a courier star is hurled, 
Tidings to bear of this our dark lost world. 



62 



LAKE DUNMORE 

Lake long-beloved, thy wondrous moods I'd hymn, 
Whose mountains, mirrored on thy billowy breast, 
Shadow thee round and shield thy peaceful nest 

From the world's wrangling voices, far and dim. 

Oh it were sweet athwart thy waves to skim 
At eve when thou, meseems, art lovliest; 
As the spent sun, low in the languid west. 

Hides his hot face behind thy rainbow'd rim. 

Thence into deeper darkness drifting soon — 

To watch the wild stars shoot, the still stars shine. 
Till, sudden, southward, the dull water o'er. 
Flashes the silver searchlight of the moon. 

The while dreams darken and fond hopes decline 
That memory loved shall linger evermore. 



63 



EVENING IN YOKOHAMA HARBOR 

Sunset; and turquoise-tinted orient skies 

Reflected in an ir idescent sea; 

A cloud-spun rainbow arched imperiously 
Above where snow-crowned slumbrous Fuji lies, 
Ruthless and dour what times his wrath shall rise — 

Eternal type of mindless majesty. 

New shades, and soft, steal forth, and flame, and 
flee; 
And, last, a faint rose pallor flares and dies. 

Darkness; a star, and myriad lambent lights 
Burning about yon dark night-mantled marge 
Of many waters, where there swoons to sleep 
The squat strange city of a thousand sights. 

Midnight; the moon sails high her silver barge, 

And sentry stars their lanquid vigil keep. 
{On S. S. Kaga Mam. October, 1906). 



64 



AT LAST 

We have learned Love's inevltableness. 

The encroaching wave rides up the crumbling 
sand: 

Shall puny walls of clay its might withstand? 
So Fear's wild vehemence and Doubt's distress 
Stand vainly forth when Love's almightiness 

Resistless sweeps adown Life's desolate strand. 

Shall man's blind battling mar what God hath 
planned ? 
Come, love — our impotence to Him confess! 

Oh love, my love, since all-compelling might 

Constrained our souls, through days we recked 

not of. 
To blest convergence at this fane of love. 

Bowed at yon altar's base we kneel this night. 
And from the chalice of one golden hour 
Quaff all the nectar of Love's utmost dower. 



6s 



POETRY AND LOVE 

When you and I pause for a trysting time, 
Here in the opal-tinted evening haze, 
Ere we disperse adown our separate ways, 

New born a poet now my heart doth rhyme 

Love's wonder tale, impassionate, sublime; 
Her sunlight bursting in on darkened days, 
Her moonlight flooding earth with silvern rays. 

Her grace to succour, and her strength to climb. 

What time I linger and you are not here. 
Much less a poet, still my heart must sing 
Of grief's wan hope and wild remembering. 

Her cross unshouldered, and her unshed tear; 
Of suppliant souls whom destiny denied. 
Of frustrate souls whose darling dream has died. 



66 



FORESHADOWINGS 
I 

Simon to Judas 
("Judas, the Son of Simon') 

Judas, come here! Nay, son, why dost thou shrink 
Like a curst dog, or like a slave abhorred, 
These many hours? What news of him, thy Lord 

From Galilee? Will he escape, dost think, 

Those dastard Jews that thirst his blood to drink, 
In murd'rous semblance of that sacred board 
Thou tell'st of? — Hark! the hushed march of a 
horde 

Of men — Judas! — their spurs at our door clink! 

SkL Jifc J^ dbL ^le, S^ ^^ jl& ,ak 

So thou art come! — ^Where wast thou gone with 
them? 

What ! And thou one, and thine the traitor's part, 

Who kept his purse, who knew his inmost heart. 
Thou vilest Jew in all Jerusalem! 

And thou, my son; would I were crucified! 

What if it — if it should be — Deicide? 



67 



II 

PiLATE^s Wife to Pilate 
( Upon his return from the Hall of Judgment) 

Ho, Pilate! — came my message to thine ear 

Bidding thee brave and thwart th' accursed crowd 
Of craven murderers who clamoured loud 

For crucifixion (Oh, I heard them here) ? 

That dream, my lord! — those dreadful forms of 
fear! 
I saw Him wrap thee in thy burial shroud ; 
Strange, cruel wounds defaced thy forehead 
proud, 

And in thy side were bruisings of a spear. 

Thou gavst Him to them — Pilate, can it be? 

Brute then thou art, and basest of them all! 

My dream returns, I see His fetters fall 
Uupon thy wrists, thine ankles; yea, I see 

Thy doom and mine. My lord, we are undone, 

For thou hast slain the world's first sinless One. 



68 



Ill 

Simon of Cyrene to Rufus of Cyrene 

("Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus" — ) 
{"Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord** — ) 

I saw Him die; nay, son, not borne above 
By angel hosts (Some wine I pray thee pour, 
My age sits heavy, and my limbs are sore.) 

I saw Him die, yea, / partook thereof. 

The cross on which He died I felt them shove 
On these bent shoulders, and that weight I bore 
Up Golgotha, while he went on before. 

His haggard eyes outflashing looks of love. 

Far more I sense but cannot say, my son. 

The cross! Those signs! Is't He they crucify 
Or their own selves? Oh, yet He did not die! 

This thou shalt tell till thy last sands are run: 
Up Calvary's slope, ere yester sun grew dim, 
// was thy father bore His cross for Him, 



69 



THE BRAHMAN TO JESUS 

Master and Teacher, with what fond accord 

We yield Thy matchless life pre-eminence! 

In what unshadowed peace our spirit-sense, 
Quickened with fasting, hath divined Thy word! 
Base things of earth, like Thee, we have abhorred: 

Visions celestial crown our abstinence. 

We own Thee Prophet, and our zeal intense 
Hath shamed the worldful West that calls Thee 
"Lord." 

Thou art our own : upon an Eastern shore 

Prints of Thy feet have scarred the sun-bleached 

sand. 
Charged by the potence of Thy pierced hand, 

The Orient ether thrills for evermore. 

Thy Western sons prove all Thy death may mean, 
Behold in us Thy life, O Nazarene! 



70 



MUSIC AND THE MASTER 

I 

Hast thou not seen some age-worn instrument 
Of music that disused and mute hath hung, 
Its strings, once resonant, now loosely strung, 

As a spent arrow, marred and impotent? 

In other moons its melting strains have lent 

Strength to the frail, to faltering love a tongue: 
Charmed by its sweetness, bards have soared and 
sung, ^ 

And stammering lips grown strangely eloquent. 

And hast thou pondered this? — if one should come. 
And, stretching taut the strings that tuneless lie, 
With magic bow their souls reanimate — 
What voices would resound that had been dumb ! 
What chords re-echo that should rend the sky! 
What heavenly harmonies reverberate! 

II 

Hast thou not seen — spawn of humanity — 
Wave-battered souls that once the deep defied. 
Slow washing outward with the ebbing tide. 

Flotsam and jetsam of Life's mournful sea? 

How like yon instruments these wan souls be 
Within whose hearts no harmonies abide. 
From off whose lips some joyous song hath died — 

Dull bestial remnants of mortality! 

Yet should the Master of all souls possess 

Such loose-strung lives, tighten and tune each 
string, ^ 
(Tested till naught of dissonance remains,) 
Grant them to feel the finger's fond caress ; 

How, then, would heaven with alleluiahs ring. 
And earth lie hushed and hallowed 'neath the 
strains ! 

71 



FAITH'S DREAM OF DOUBT 

Last night I dreamed that my beloved was dead; 

Wildly her name in dismal halls I cried ; 

Shrill mocking echoes from the gloom replied, 
Tin my despair confessed her soul was sped. 
A gleam of dawn-light stole across my bed; 

In glad release my prison'd eyes leapt wide, 

Met her sweet gaze — and a resurgent tide 
Of love o'erswept my heart that, dreaming, bled. 

So dreams the soul Its Sovereign Lord has fled, 
In doubt's dark midnight that on faith doth fall. 
By no far beacon's glancing ray transcrossed. 
Dawn breaks full soon — the East suffused with red ; 
The soul awakes and finds Him at its call, 

And loves Him better that It dreamed Him 
lost. 



72 



AT CLOSE OF DAY I KNELT 

{Near "Round Top!' Northfield) 

At close of day I knelt for evening prayer. 

Gray stars emerging from the golden glow 

Watched from afar and yearned methought to 
show 
Their depth of sympathy. I looked to where 
But now the sun adown the rainbow stair 

Of sunset splendor slipped away; and lo! 

The sky shone silver, and the hills of snow 
Gleaming through purpling mists were lustrous fait 

My prayer unwhispered, long into the west 
My gaze inclined. Upon my heart there fell 
The peace of angels; till, the sacred spell 

Dissolved, I gave my weary limbs to rest. 
No prayer ascended from my lips that night 
For God had talked to me, and all was light. 



73 



EPICURUS OR CHRIST 

{On reading Walter Paters "Renaissance") 

I 

Wizard, I own thy power. Withhold the spell 
Thy words would weave about my swooning soul 
That weakly falters — glimpsing still the goal 

Of desperate hope thine opiate wand would quell. 

Ring not upon my quivering faith the knell 
Of skeptic license that bids lift the bowl 
Of momentary passion — quaflf its whole 

Of bliss and blight, of very Heaven and Hell. 

Resumes the voice: "This life — so dearly bought. 
One golden wassail-hour twixt womb and grave, 
Is beauty's thrall; disown the futile strife 
That storms the heaven its frantic dreams have 
wrought. 
Forsooth thou hast no piteous soul to save: 
Save then the imperilled moments of thy life!" 

II 

The voice declines, and falntlier throbs the heart 
Of hope within me. Then, O then, I hear 
The whisper-waves that beat upon mine ear, 

Importunate to enter, cry: — "Depart, 

Prophet of death ! And thou, my child, what art 
Could woo thee from remembrance, and could 

clear 
Thy conscience of Its destined purpose here? 

Hast thou not learned a less Ignoble part?" 

Once more, my soul, press up the steep ascent 
Of Golgotha; and even in pain's despite 

Pursue the gleam that lures thee from the dross 
Of days thou hast but served thy selfish bent: — 
For all, to seek — God's cringing foes to fight! 
For all J to win, grave Nazarene, Thy cross! 
74 



SOVEREIGNTY 

{After a sermon by Rev. F. W. Gunsaulus in City 
Temple, London) 

"Then I saw thrones," John cried, in that dread 
hour 

When this world's destiny and doom were sealed ; 

Beneath earth's vanquished realm he saw revealed 
Eternal law, imperishable power. 
Have ye seen thrones, O regnant souls that tower 

Above your kind, and scornfully that wield 

A scepter? Ah, your thrones ye soon must yield: 
Shorn, loveless solitude your death-born dower. 

Yet if ye glimpse, beyond earth's finite ends. 
The great white throne; from such apocalypse. 
With souls informed and sordid strength re- 
signed. 
Ye shall emerge one day, and in those friends 
Whose lives by you are lifted, and whose lips 
Are purged, your thrones eternal ye shall find. 



75 



IN LOVING HOPE 
{Walter Washburn) 

"The Lord hath given" — the little life to keep, 
The little heart to soothe on loving breast, 
The little head at eve to lull to rest; 

"The Lord hath given," O Love divine and deep. 

"The Lord hath taken away" — the sombre sleep 
Of Death too soon o'er languid lids hath pressed. 
Scarce flames the dawn when in the saffron west 

The sun rides low, and evening shadows creep. 

Since Thou hast borne him to Thy home above 
We thank Thee, that, a transitory guest, 
Thou gavest him who, at Thy love's behest, 

Burst the frail bands of helpless human love. 
Ah Lord, he was so pure, so sweet, so fair, 
He must be happier in the home up there. 



76 



ELIHU BURRITT 

With gaze that glowered on a world at war 

(Blinded by smoke from murd'rous guns that 

curled, 
Deafened with cries from anguished throats forth 
hurled) 
His eyes discerned, like some mirage afar 
On desolate plains where parched pilgrims are, 
Beyond those drear confines a fairer world, 
Where battle drums were stilled and flags were 
furled, 
And love had laved its every stain and scar. 

In yonder city where he toiled and dreamed, 

And learned of books and men, and rights and 
wrongs, 

As yester eve I watched the surging throngs 
From many shores, with variant tongues, meseemed 

The pledge was here of promised war's surcease. 

Of universal brotherhood and peace. 

{New Britain, Conn., Jan. i, 1908.) 



11 



GLASGOW'S FAREWELL TO GEORGE 
ADAM SMITH 

(On his departure for Aberdeen) 

The College cries its debt to him whose mind, 
Distilling sunshine where it moves, has lit 
With radiant life the scenes of Holy Writ, 

And, shadowed by no fears that fog and blind, 

The hidden, luminous meaning has divined. 
His sterling kindliness, his genial wit 
And personal charm, his pupils' hearts have knit 

In friendship's ties inseparably twined. 

The church would crown her champion, keen and 

strong. 
Endowed with passion's warmth and learning's 

power. 
The city yields her love to him whose hour 
Availed to war with every social wrong. 

What Highland hearts have won their tongues 

may tell: 
We can but bow bereaved. O King — farewell ! 
(17. F, College, Glasgow, Scotland, Dec,, 1 909.) 



78 



MIRAGE 

Westward I fared, and toiled a weary way 

Through sand choked desert and o'er panting 

plain, 
Wind-bitten wastes that ever yearn for rain, 

Parched by the sun's immitigable ray. 

Sudden, afar, where clung the dying day 

A slumbrous pool shone forth, and I would fain 
Have reached its shimmering surface, but in vain ; 

Mocking my thirst it sank in mist away. 

Thus oft to men grown weary of the strife, 
Bending to burdens that they may not lift. 
The clouds are pierced, and through the golden 
rift 

There shines a vision of the nobler life: 

And though it soon must vanish like a dream, 
Life gains her lustre from that moment's gleam. 



79 



TO CHRISTINA— TO-DAY 

(On Reading "The Chronicles of Yaddo**) 

I knew you not in that blithe yesterday 
Of Yaddo, but I felt your spirit steal 
Besides me as I read : yea, I did feel 

The breath of buoyant life no bounds could stay; 

The youth-born rapture, and the rare display 
Of spiritual sense they know who kneel 
In prayer persistent — they, whose lives reveal 

How over death Love's scepter holds its sway. 

Earth could not cramp your spirit, wing'd for flight, 
That burst its chrysalis of time and space. 
To find unfoldment in eternity. 
Christina, through your life outstreams the light 
That wreathed that other Child's irradiant face. 

Who romped and dreamed, of old, in Galilee. 
{Saratoga, N. Y., September, 1908.) 



80 



TO E. P. P. AND J. H. T. 

{"'The Soul of Jonathan Was Knit with the Soul of 

David'') 

Born of the glory of the golden age 

Of the fair city your knit lives have blest; 
Through two-score years unsundered, neath the 
test 

Of poignant griefs, nor time nor tears assuage, 

Of secret hurts, and of the wars men wage 

In Pride's vain tourney, not at Truth's behest; — 
Still bides the friendship your great hearts con- 
fessed, 

And God confirmed, as faith's bright heritage. 

Prophets, beloved at home, abroad renowned. 

Your monument, our souls that turn from wrong 
And braver dare the heights because we found 

Your friendship, like an anchor, sure and strong! 
Now on that love-wrought cairn, with praises 
crowned. 

Is laid this tribute of unworthy song. 

{Asylum Hill Church, Hartford, September, 
1912.) 



81 



TO T. A. DALY 

{After reading ''Canzone'* In answer to "A Song 
to One*') 

That I am one to read your lays 
And proffer you my meed of praise 
Full well I know is naught to you, 
Who wrote to cheer a chosen few, 
Nor sought to set a world ablaze. 

Yet as the many bring the bays 

You have not asked — the happy phrase, 

The greeting kind, I would you knew 

That I am one 

Whose shy untutored tongue would raise 
Its tribute, not as one that weighs 

In balance, and gives guerdon due; 

But one who loves the strong and true. 
'Tis by such verse, no word repays. 
That I am won. 



82 



MY VALENTINE 
{To B. R. J.) 

My valentine? One asked in jest, 

And, graver then, the question pressed, 
Who knew my youthful days are o'er 
Of tuneful tributes by the score. 

Where loyal loves are soft confessed. 

Now friendly rhyme of Cupid's quest 

With bow and quiver doth attest 
No longer, as in days of yore. 
My valentine. 

A face — of gladsome smiles possessed; 
A heart — the spring of love unguessed ; 

Two lips — of golden words the store; 

A life where love — O more and more!- 
In deeds, not words, is aye expressed : — 
My valentine. 



83 



IN MEMORIAM: VERLING WINCHEL 
HELM 

Thy face aglow with morning light — 
We little thought how swift and soon 
The hours would droop to afternoon, 

Would fade through evening into night. 

And yet our times are in His hand, 
And if thy life was needed there, 
So strong to serve, so hard to spare, 

We speed thee to the Morning Land. 

"And I, if I be raised above, 

Will draw the world to me," He said : 
And to our lives His death is wed. 

Our lives through which men learn His love. 

But 'tis ourselves we oft exalt. 

Who doubtful wait His passion's proof, 
And from His children stand aloof. 

While eyes grow dim and footsteps halt. 

'Tis through the life of one like thee — 
So near thy living Lord, who stood. 
So near thy human brotherhood — 

Men find the Man of Galilee. 

Where thou didst move about the earth, 
The hungry sheep of God were fed. 
The wayward lambs to shelter led ; 

And nobler dreams were brought to birth. 



84 



We sing thy heart so brave to bear — 
So quick another's hurt to feel, 
Thy hand so swift to help and heal, 

Thy saintly spirit, pure and fair. 

Th' eternal years thy sheaves shall see 
In lives wherein thy precepts grow, 
Which truer ring, and brighter glow. 

Because of thee, because of thee. 



85 



EAST AND WEST 

{To the Daughter of a Missionary, on her Depar- 
ture for America) 

Out of the East — the mystery and magic 

That dawns with twilight and with daylight dies ; 

Yon soldier race where, seek'st thou trite of tragic, 
Th' impassive face thy scrutiny defies. 

Out of the East — ^where Fuji, hale and hoary, 
Hath won the worship of each vanished age; 

Fair bourne of mirrored shrine and vista'd torii. 
Out of the East thou mak'st thy pilgrimage. 

Unto the West — the monuments majestic, 
The busy marts, the tyranny of trade; 

Fond dreams of maidens merged in cares domestic. 
Dark crimes that covert in the long night shade. 

Unto the West — the land of hope's transcendence, 
Where every race of all the world doth send 

Her sons to learn the lays of independence: — 
Unto the West thy pilgrim foot-steps bend. 

Daughter of West and East, into thy coffers 
The genius of the East, as of the West, 

Ere now hath poured his treasure store, and proffers 
Unto thy hand forevermore his best. 

Choose for thy path the truest and the highest. 
Leave thou the lesser, as thou hast, the least; 

And One at last shall tell thee, ere thou diest, 
"Thy life hath honored well both West and East" 



86 



A BIRTHDAY GREETING 
{To a new J dear friend) 

Your birthday! — Yours? Who are you? 

I do not know you — quite: — 
A blaze in that vast blackness 

That wrapped my soul in night. 

Flitting afar to find you, 

Friend with the soul so true, 

Swift to the flame you kindled, 
Moth-like, my spirit flew. 

A few fleet days together, 

Long years of dream and thought 

To reach this consummation 
God in an hour hath wrought. 

And now I've found you, fairest, 

I guard you half afraid: 
Into dissevered ages 

Must this linked moment fade? 

Nay but we will not ask it: 
The cup, the cup, dear heart. 

Of joy to-day. To-morrow 
God knows if we must part. 

Here at the hearth of friendship 

Resting secure from harm, 
We will not fear dim phantoms. 

Nor dread a sundering arm. 



87 



The past all mystic sweetness, 

Future we dream not of, 
Save that it must be friendship. 

Save that it might be love: 

Onward we fare and upward, 

Fearless for God is here ; 
This is my birthday message, 

This is my present, dear. 
{Aug. 26, 1908.) 

TO M. B. D. 

Winding pathways far we followed. 

Yours and mine: — and many friends 

Journeyed with us, cheering, chiding. 

Till — each pathway ends 

In a single, sun-filled highroad, 

Ours, to tread forevermore. 

Days of doubt and dream behind us, 

Love's One Life before. 

{August 26, 1909.) 



88 



A CONTRAST 

(On Viewing Two Adjacent Pictures in a Glasgow 

Gallery ) 

1. The Forerunner, by Sir J. E. Millais 

The winds of dawn bestir his tawny hair, 
Tinged with the splendid glory of the radiant east; 
His youthful, fervent face is lifted toward the cross 
His hands hold out before him rapturously, 
Haunting his eager lips the spirit of a smile. 
His eyes, by the rude crucifix enravished, 
Glow with an inward fire, 
A mystic flame, 

Reflected from the sunrise of his holy dream 
To draw men upward to some great Ideal 
(Dimly divined, impersonally known) 
Toward which his own white soul aspires: — 
Behold the Baptist, by his Heavenward dreams 
transfigured. 

2. St. Helena — The Last Phase, by Jas. Sant 

A sallow face of giant mould, 
Rugged, relentless, as a clifiE unyielding to the sea; 
A massive forehead, gaunt and sunken cheeks; 
A rigid, powerful chin, 
Impetuously, passionately wilful; 
Eyes that are awful in their emptiness. 
Wherethrough have shone illimitable dreams, 
Lustful of empires and of worlds won by unparal- 
leled emprise. 
But now impoverished by ravaged hopes, 
And hollow as the selfish heart discovered 
By their vindictive, mournful vacancy: — 
Behold the Bonaparte, by worldly wasted dreams 
disfigured. 

89 



TO PRINCETON— 1905 
(Class Ode) 

On tower and hall pale evening shadows rest; 

The sun is low, is low, 
Lingering sadly in the crimson west, 

Till softly it shall go 
To dawn anew in alien skies, caressed 

With silvery, sunrise glow. 

So pales the sunset of our college days, 

Whose joys are past, are past; 
Here as we gather in the twilight haze, 

Be friendship true and fast! 
To Nineteen-Five our glasses now we raise. 

In one toast more — the last. 

Swift comes the sunrise of a larger day, 

Whose tasks are near, are near; 
Joined by these bonds of fellowship for aye, 

Glad scorn we'll fling to fear. 
And all shall glorify, nor one betray 

Our class, forever dear. 



90 



MOTHER OCEAN 
(A Sailor s Song) 

I come to your breast, Mother Ocean, 
For the crooning my weariness craves. 

No murmurs of music can lull me 
Like the ravenous roar of your waves. 

Your merriest moods are terrific; 

Your wrath is a rapture of joy; 
Man's sorrow your bitterness quenches, 

His madness your follies destroy. 

Ye winds of the Northland, blow wilder! 

Ye boisterous billows up-start! 
Mid the thunderous war of your waters 

There is peace, there is peace, in my heart. 

I shall know% at the last. Mother Ocean, 
Your fondest and final embrace; 

Grim death will be shorn of his terrors, 
I shall see but the smile on your face. 



91 



THE REFLECTION 

Hast ever seen, abroad on some bleak ocean, 
With nightly views of vistas dark and drear, 

Sudden the moon peer through the sable curtains- 
And shed across the wave her lustre clear? 

So have they seen, the heralds of the Highest, 
In lands where sin has sown the curse of night. 

Love's flaming moon burst through the sodden dark- 
ness 
And leave a trail of souls aglow with light. 



93 



ON SHIP-BOARD 

I watch yon sailors scrub and lave 
The decks the live-long day, 
When from the deep one mammoth wave 
Would wash all stains away. 

So, Lord, life's blotches to erase 
We strive, by night, by day. 
When waits the ocean of thy grace 
To wash those stains away. 



93 



SOUL, REST NOT IN THY SORROW 

Soul, rest not in thy sorrow. 
Enthroned this weary while ; 

Stay not to ask the empty grace 
To bless and not revile. 

Go, meet thy brothers overborne 
And cheer them with thy smile. 

Soul, rest not in thy sorrow. 

Held to thy heart so long; 
Stay not to cull the bitter fruits 

That to all grief belong. 
Go, find thy fellow-sufferers 

And flood them with thy song. 

Soul, rest not in thy sorrow. 

No rest love dare afford ; 
The sad world waits the golden word 

Thy lips must now record. 
Go, seek the wounded sons of men 

And lead them to thy Lord. 



94 



THE DAY'S LIFE 
I. Morning 

He asked a boon of Life 

As he mounted and rode away: 
To the west, a sound of strife, 

Eastward the breaking day. 

Life said to the youth: "Be strong! 

For those on the upward slope 
The toils are many, the way is long,-r- 

I give thee Hope." 

n. Noon 

He asked of Life a boon 

As he wearily paced the road 
In the burning heat of noon, 

Fainting beneath his load. 

Life said to the man: "Take care! 

For the scorching sun above; 
Behold one cometh thy load to share, — 

I give thee Love." 

III. Night 

A boon of Life he asked 

As he laid in the grave a shroud: 
The face of the future masked; 

Over the past a cloud. 

Life whispered: "The mom will break! 

Thy grief is a midnight wraith; 
To endless Love shall thy soul awake, — 

I give thee Faith." 



95 



THE MANIFEST GOD 

*'God lives, I say, 
God lives to-day/' 
"Oh, soul, how hast thou known?" 
" 'Tis hymned by every bursting bush, 

'Tis whispered by the leaves, 
'Tis painted in the roseate flush 
The sunset sky receives." 

''God loves, I say, 
God loves for aye.** 
"Oh, soul, how durst thou hope?" 

" 'Tis thrilled through every mother's kiss, 

Through childhood's lisping prayer. 
Through hands that work love's ministries. 

Through hearts that dream and dare." 

*'God rules, I say, 
God rules alway" 
"Oh, soul, how canst thou tell?" 
" 'Tis written clear in human lives, 

On history's printed page, 
The false succumbs, the true survives, 

And spreads from age to age." 



96 



THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE 

Brave souls in hope have ever sought a way to God 

on high. 
The prophets crying, "Souls repent," have pointed 

toward the sky; 
But One there was, in the arms outstretched, who 

said, 

"The Way am I.** 

Pure souls in doubt have sought a truth by which to 

live and die. 
The sages, crying, "Ours the truth," give each to 

each the lie; 
Yet was there One, of stainless deed, who said, 

"The Truth am I.** 

Strong souls for full and endless life were ever born 

to sigh. 
The saints have sought in lonely lands from forth 

the world to fly; 
But One, who breathed eternal joy, has said, 

"The Life am I." 



97 



ASKED AT SUNSET 

Are there no songs to which the ear that hearkens 
Asks nevermore earth's music as of old — 

Heard ere life's noonday into twilight darkens, 
Wafted at even through the gates of gold? 

Is there no vision of an everlasting 

Seen ere life's lamp hath flickered out at last — 
The far effulgence of a glory, casting 

Shadows across earth's pictures that are past? 

And shall not thus, while the late sunset lingers, 
His chill despair with crescent hope be crossed — 

Ere the spent soul's distraught and frantic fingers 
Their last wild hold upon life's ledge have lost? 



98 



THE EASTER LIGHT 

(John 2o:i-io) 

Still are there love-drawn souls to-day 
Who seek the tomb where Jesus lay 
And find the stone is rolled away. 

They peer within the ghostly gloom ; 
No spiritual lights illume, 
They only see the empty tomb. 

To them no angel forms appear, 
No voice is sounding in their ear, 
"The Lord is risen, He is not here." 

From piteous eyes the quick tears start, 
Then musing o'er the thievish art 
That stole their Lord, they slow depart. 

They bow bereaved beneath the cross. 
They mourn the world's unmeasured loss. 
And hold all heavenward hope but dross. 

Oh, foolish hearts and slow of sight, 
Who watch and wait in Calvary's night, 
Will ye not see the Easter light? 



99 



EASTER HYMN 

/. The Manger 

My head has bowed at Bethlehem, 

At Bethlehem so bright: 
I heard the angels in the sky, 
I saw the wise men drawing nigh, 

Their guiding light 
The wondrous star on high. 

Oh the songs they sing. 

And the gifts they bring, 

Whose hearts have cradled the New Born King! 

II. The Cross. 

Mine eyes have wept on Calvary, 

On Calvary so drear: 
I saw the Saviour crucified, 
Mv sins the cross on which He died. 

My grief the spear 
They pressed into His side. 

Oh the guilt and shame, 

And the scourging blame, 

Of those whose lips have disowned His name/ 



I(X) 



///. The Crown 

My heart has burned in Galilee 

In Galilee the blest; 
I heard the voice I knew of yore, 
I saw the matchless eyes once more, 

With love possessed, 
That thrilled me as before. 

Oh the peace they win. 

And the rest from sin. 

Whose Lord is risen and reigns within! 



lOI 



A THANKSGIVING THOUGHT 

I thank Thee, Lord, for these Thy gi^ts: 
The western sky at dusk of night, 

When sunset gleams through golden rifts; 
The eastern sky with dawn alight. 

The gorgeous sheen of autumn trees, 

The purity of winter snows, 
The calm content of summer seas, 

When from the south the zephyr blows. 

The warming sun that flames above. 
The cooling cloud that o'er it drifts. 

My glad heart thrilled with Nature's love,- 
I thank Thee, Lord, for these Thy gifts. 



102 



A CHRISTMAS THOUGHT 

The brightest spot in the whole wide world, 

That earliest Christmas night, 
Was not the palace of Herod's court. 

With myriad torches bright. 
But the lowly stall where the blessed child 

Lay bathed in a Heavenly light. 

And where will ye find the radiant spots 
In the whole wide world to-day? 

O, not in the palaces stern and great. 
Where the kings and the princes stay, 

But down in the homes of the pure in heart 
Where latest the Christ-child lay. 



03 



AN EASTER THOUGHT 

"Galilean, thou hast conquered!" 
Thus the dying Julian cried 

As his soul went forth, defeated, 
To the Lord his life defied. 

"Galilean, thou has conquered!" 
Thus shall ring our triumph cry 

When our souls, by Christ enfolded, 
Find it is not death to die. 



104 



AT A COMIC OPERA 

There's a time when dark fancies go straying, 
Undeluded by glamour and sheen, 

From the parts which the actors are playing 
To the souls that are stifling unseen. 

To the music light steps must go tripping 
Though hearts are full-laden with woe. 

Though souls in the shadow are slipping: 
Nay — Tragedy — this is thy show! 



105 



MORNING AND EVENING 

The dawn Is a slender maiden 
With a face divinely fair; 

Her smile is a dream of sunshine, 
A shimmer of gold, her hair. 

The night is a stately princess, 
A girdle of stars her crown; 

Her voice is enchanting music, 
And lulls into sleep her own. 



1 06 



THE KING AND THE PILGRIM: AN AL- 
LEGORY 

Draw near, thou stern-browed traveler, and say, 

where wilt thou go? 
/ tread a long steep pathway to a land thou dost not 

know. 

How thou art bent beneath thy cross; here lay thy 

burden down. 
The cross I bear is light beside thy jewel-weighted 

crown. 

Come, I will set thee at my feasts where women 

dance and sing. 
At fleshly banquets such as thine the soul is starved, 

O King. 

This night thy weary limbs shall share the king's 
emblazoned bed. 

/ serve a King who had not where to lay His hal- 
lowed head. 

Alluring books and gorgeous sport shall grace each 

dazzling day. 
On earth I have one Book to read and many prayers 

to say. 

A snow-white steed shall feel thy rein when to the 

wars we ride. 
/ would not slay but save the souls for whom the 

Lord Christ died. 

My courtiers call, my maidens wait, hear how the 

games begin. 
/ only hear a still small voice that bids me strive 

with sin. 

Farewell till next we meet; press on thy foolish 

path of pain! 
Farewell forevermore, O king: — we shall not meet 

again. 

107 



PRAYER— AT THE CROSS 

Grant me the grace, 
Looking upon Thy face, 

Oh matchless King! 
To see Thee as Thou art; 
Within Thy glowing heart 
To glimpse the love untold 
That ever doth unfold 
Its wondrous burgeoning. 

Grant me the grace. 
Looking upon Thy face, 

Oh Crucified! 
To find reflected there, 
In scars of grief laid bare. 
Darker than Lethe's night 
The sins I held so light, 
The sins Thou could'st not bide. 

Grant me the grace. 
Looking upon Thy face, 

Oh Lord of might! 
To know my sins resigned, 
And at Thy cross to find 
New blest with joy undreamed, 
And holy in Thy sight. 



io8 



FOR HOSTESS 

Not she who ever works her way to wing 
Unto the hid heart of her lord and king 
With anxious art and busy banqueting; 

But she best serves whose love-appointed seat 
Is by her lord: — like her, so still and sweet — 
The loving listener at the Master's feet. 



109 



FOR LEADER 

One who seeks for truth in strange, dark places 
With a torch no lenient eye could bear; 

One who looks for love in hard, cold faces, 
Finding what none other deemed was there: 

One who strives, but for no selfish winning. 
One who, failing, will not own defeat; 

One who holds so high a scorn of sinning, 
None may lure his soul to self-deceit: 

One who fights unfoiled by stupid blindness ^ 
Of the good who fear no cause for blame; 

One who walks untrapped by subtle kindness 
Of the evil, bringing gifts of shame: 

Knowing never joy unshared by others; 

Taking for his own the wide world's pain, 
Counting men of every creed his brothers; 

And eternity his soul's domain. 



IIO 



TO MY MOTHER 

(In a Book of Thoughts on Prayer) 

Time's hands that circle night and day 
Have marked once more the first of May, 
The freshening flower, the garden gay — 
Fair summer's green for winter's gray. 

Glad Spring's rejoicing birthday bell 
Peals forth your birthday joy as well, 
When grateful gifts but feebly tell 
Of love no years can dim or quell. 

Now as with sheaves of praise and prayer 
Each day you reap this harvest rare, 
My love recall which here you share, 
But more — His love which beckons there. 
(May I, 1906.) 



Ill 



L'ENVOI 

("The Greatest of These") 

The youth of my heart has ended, 

Its passions are lulled to rest; 
But I echo it still, as my dim eyes fill — 

Love is best. 

Staunch ships fare forth from their havens. 

The seas of the world to roam; 
For the lads who sail in the storm and gale — 

Love's a home. 

The hopes of a youth prove fleeting. 

The dreams of a youth fade fast ; 
But in memory blest, as an age-long guest — 

Love will last. 

Gray shadows lengthen around me, 

My sun hangs low in the west ; 
Yet I feel the thrill of the old song still — 

Love is best. 



112 




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